Star Wars:The Clone Wars S3......so far

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by JediKnightButler, Oct 31, 2010.

  1. JediKnightButler

    JediKnightButler Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I ditched my cable last spring after finishing S2 of Clone Wars and haven't watched a complete episode of S3 yet, though I have been watching the previews on iTunes and watched the "sneak peek" of S3 that was released prior to the new season but I wanted to know if there are any episodes so far this season that I absolutely can't wait to watch on the S3 box set and should consider downloading from iTunes (or catching elsewhere). So far, there haven't been any episodes- based on iTunes' pathetically short "previews" that have looked particularly downloadable but given the brevity of the previews, I don't know if I might be missing something. I am definitely, however, looking forward to them bringing the Night Sisters of Dathomir into the series at some point but are there any episodes I should get to sooner?:confused:
     
  2. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    Actually Season Three has been pretty bad so far, unfortunately. There's only been one traditional war episode so far, the second ep, and that really the only decent one this season. Aside from that, the most recent episode "Assassin" was alright.
     
  3. JediKnightButler

    JediKnightButler Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    That's kind of disappointing. I've been a pretty big fan of the show but it seems like the show can, at times, be.........forgettable. I wouldn't say that it's ever really been "bad" just some episodes are truly standouts and others are just.........meh.

    Thanks for your input.

    I keep hoping that they will bring in some more of the EU and/or that we will get to see some characters from races that have been talked about but not seen, particularly the Bothans. There was one battle in S1 that takes place over Bothawui and, of course, they played an important role in the events of ROTJ but we've never actually gotten to see the Bothans as of yet.

    It would be cool if they did an episode with a Chiss character. According to Wookiepedia, in one EU source, there was a Chiss character fighting for the Separatists during the Clone Wars.
     
  4. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    The show has been a bit jumpy this season, at least to me. It seems to be more geared towards following up on stuff from the first season than moving forward. For example we've revisited Toydaria and seen the prelude to Yoda's visit there to try to recruit the Toydarians into the Republic. We've seen a return to Kamino and watched Grevious' invasion of the planet shown in Rookies. Seen Ryloth again and what happened to them at the beginning of the invasion (with Jedi Knight Ima-Gon Di). Seen what's happened with Chuchi and had an episode that pretty much centered on George Lucas' cameo in ROTS.

    CartoonNetwork.Com has them for viewing if you live in the US.
     
  5. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Let's see, S3 so far:

    "Clone Cadets": A prequel to "Rookies" from the first season, focusing on the team of clones introduced there. The only character from the films is Jedi Knight Shaak Ti in her first speaking role. A purely character-driven episode with no action beyond training exercises. A very odd choice for the season opener. Might've been more interesting if I remembered that we'd seen the clone characters before, but it didn't engage me much.

    "ARC Troopers": A sequel to "Rookies," making it confusing that these two were shown back to back. Has more major characters, but still focuses on the clones as they fight off a Separatist attack on their Kaminoan "home." Okay, but didn't do much for me.

    "Supply Lines": On the plus side, it's a Bail Organa focus; on the minus side, it's also a Jar Jar focus. A prequel to the season 1 premiere "Ambush" and the Ryloth trilogy, showing Sens. Organa and Binks trying to convince the Toydarians to give up their neutrality and assist the Republic in sending relief supplies to Ryloth. Some action on Ryloth, but the main focus is political. Not bad, if you can tolerate Jar Jar (who actually came off somewhat more competently than usual, in a sense).

    "Sphere of Influence": Focuses on Baron Papanoida, the character George Lucas played in cameo in the prequel trilogy. Written by Lucas's daughter Katie, it features a lot of original trilogy nods including a trip to Tattooine and a major role for Greedo. One of the best of the season so far, especially if you're an OT fan.

    "Corruption": A Mandalore-based story bringing back Duchess Satine from S2 and pairing her with Padme as they investigate a smuggling operation making Mandalorian children sick and the governmental corruption that allows it. Even though I generally prefer the action-light, change of pace episodes, I found this to be the most boring and pointless installment of the entire series.

    "The Academy": Continuing the storyline from "Corruption," this time focusing on Ahsoka and a group of teenaged Mandalorian cadets as they continue the corruption investigation. Not quite as boring as the previous episode, but not much better.

    "Assassin": Definitely the high point of the season so far. A strong focus on the women of TCW, as Ahsoka teams up with Padme to prevent Aurra Sing from assassinating the latter. Another Katie Lucas episode; she seems to be a better storyteller than her father. Again, a number of ties to the original trilogy, including a visit to Alderaan.
     
  6. Hound of UIster

    Hound of UIster Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Most of the good writers like Drew Goddard seem to be MIA in this one.
     
  7. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Drew Goddard has never written for The Clone Wars. You must be referring to Drew Z. Greenberg (writer of Firefly's "Safe," a story editor on Buffy and Smallville, and a producer on Dexter, Warehouse 13, and Caprica), who's listed as "Supervising Writer" on "Supply Lines," "Sphere of Influence," and "Assassin."

    The less successful episodes of the season so far -- the Kamino 2-parter and the Mandalore 2-parter -- were all written by Cameron Litvack and carry no "Supervising Writer" credit for Greenberg. I'm not sure exactly what a supervising writer is, but I imagine it's something similar to a showrunner, a writer who oversees the work of other writers and polishes the script. So Greenberg has had a hand in the three strongest episodes of the season.
     
  8. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    Season 3 just hasn't been as good thus far. I gave Seasons 1 & 2 a B but so far, for Season 3, the episodes average out to roughly a C+. The problem hasn't necessarily been the shift in content, its been on how well the stories are told. "Supply Lines" for example was an episode in which the character basically stood in place and repeated the same problem -- Ryloth needs supplies!!! -- over and over and over again.

    I have confidence, though, that the episodes themselves will improve. As a response to one of my reviews, I got this from one of the Season 4 writers:
    I was privy to all the scripts for Season 3. And I can assure you that, as the new season progresses, the audience is in for a real thrill ride. Not only will the show go in exciting and unexpected places, but the episodes will dig deeper into the characters that populate the series.​
     
  9. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    "Evil Plans" was fun. Nice to see a focus on Threepio and Artoo. And how refreshing to see Threepio actually operating as he was meant to, handling matters of protocol! Finally he achieves entelechy! Although of course it's not long before he's in trouble and bemoaning his ghastly fate. And it's no wonder he's so hard on Artoo -- the dang fireplug was so self-absorbed he didn't even notice Threepio's abduction.

    Interesting that the bad guys actually won. But then, clearly this is part 1 of an arc.

    I don't like the fact that the Hutts other than Jabba, especially Ziro, all have higher voices than he does. I mean, presumably Jabba's voice was supposed to be that deep because of his great size. The other Hutt performers should have similar voice processing to amplify their bass the same way.

    Keeping up with the writer credits, it turns out that this one was by Steven Long Mitchell & Craig W. Van Sickle, whom I remember from the Alien Nation writing staff, and who went on to create The Pretender and to write and produce the 2007 Tin Man miniseries.
     
  10. DarthPipes

    DarthPipes Vice Admiral Admiral

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    This episode was filler but it had quite a bit of stuff to like.

    -I thought the Hutt Council scene was cool and it set up next week's show. More on that later.

    -Always good to see Threepio and Artoo together again. It's always good to have Anthony Daniels back, who still does a great job but it sounds like his voice is getting a little "tired."

    -Any chance to see more of the underbelly of Coruscant, including the works is good.

    -Droid humor, like the droids in the alley.

    -The droid spa had some impressive visuals.

    Next week, Quinlan Vos makes his Clone Wars debut! It's been a long time coming! :techman:
     
  11. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    I thought this episode had some very good individual scenes, but the total was actually less than the sum of its parts.

    It was great to see Padmé and Anakin having a truly natural and constructive "couples" moment. The humor between Threepio and Artoo was good. The scene in Bane's lair was exquisitely rendered (loved the dust and smoke).

    But the juxtaposition of Threepio's torture with Artoo's spa was just awkward. I didn't buy that Artoo would be so easily duped to begin with. It's hard to have an emotional connection to Threepio's torture in any case. And Bane's trip to Tatooine felt like it was from another episode.
     
  12. indianatrekker26

    indianatrekker26 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I somewhat enjoyed tonight's episode. Loved the scenes with threepio and artoo. Really felt like star wars to me. Really also enjoyed seeing Cad Bane again. But this episode mostly felt like setup for next weeks show.
    Overall this season has been weak to me. No sense of focus, all over the place.
     
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I can buy it. Artoo's always been vain and self-important, and has never had a problem ignoring Threepio and rushing off to follow his own impulses.


    Heck, it's easier to relate to Threepio than to most of the prequel-trilogy characters.
     
  14. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    Yeah, I can definitely see many (even most) people buying that scene. For some reason it didn't come across that way to me in the episode.


    Relate? Yes. Have an emotional connection in a case like this? No. Threepio's been dismembered and reassembled so many times by now -- mostly for laughs -- that seeing him zapped here didn't get the same reaction from me as when, say, Satine was zapped.
     
  15. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    "Evil Plans" was the first episode since 3X2 I could really enjoy. The Droids are the stars and Cad Bane is the villain! I wish they had used Bane in the 1.5 seasons between his last appearance, he's the most effective villain they have now. I can even live with his enormous hat now!

    I do question the existence of a droid spa, though. I thought droids were basically slaves with little free will of their own, with 3PO and R2 being the aberrations since they never got their personalities routinely wiped like other droids. So seeing all these droids coming in without their masters to waste money on themselves was a little weird.
     
  16. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, you just have to focus on the aspects of the situation that would distress Threepio. Maybe the physical abuse didn't harm him much, but just think about the intolerable bad manners of it all! I mean, he simply had to get those fruits back to the party in time for dessert or the whole event would be ruined! Protocol is what he lives for, and falling short in his protocol duties would be quite tragic from his point of view.

    I once heard a bit of writing advice, though I can't remember who said it: "Every character must want something, even if it's just a sandwich." Good characters are motivated by the pursuit of something they want or need badly, and effective storytelling is about getting us to identify with their need to achieve their goals and their frustration at failing to do so, even if those goals are completely different from our own. That's why good storytelling can even make us identify with villains -- we may recognize their goals as wrong, but we can relate to need and frustration in any context.

    So whether Threepio was experiencing physical pain or distress wasn't the issue here. The identification came from sympathizing with his need and the frustration of his need. What does the character want? What keeps him from getting it? How does he react to that impediment? These are the questions that define a character's arc. Threepio may not have been in great physical danger, but emotionally he was deeply distressed, because his need is for everything to be prim and proper and perfect, and for himself to be the one responsible for keeping it that way, and this situation was anathema to that.



    It's a big galaxy, and Coruscant is the most densely populated planet in it, I believe. So even if only a tiny percentage of droids diverge from the norm, it's still going to be a large enough customer base for such a business.

    Besides, maybe it's mainly geared at droid owners rather than droids. Look at all the similar spas and grooming salons for dogs and cats, or at the industry that makes little doggy outfits and fancy cat collars, and at the gourmet pet food industry. Do the pets need any of that stuff? Do they care about it? Not really. The industry is marketed at the owners who anthropomorphize their pets and project their own desire and vanity onto them. I'm sure that in a universe where people owned droids, a lot of them would treat their "pet" droids the same way.

    After all, if the spa had been geared at droids rather than their owners, why would the spa "employees" have been designed to look like sexy humanoid women? That's a dead giveaway right there that the primary targeted customer base is humans who want their droids to look their best, or maybe humans who feel vaguely guilty about enslaving droids and want to believe they're rewarding their droids for their service.


    Oh, hey, the episode guide explains something I've been wondering about. Namely, why would 9-year-old Anakin Skywalker have built a prissy protocol droid? Seems highly incongruous. Well, here's the official rationalization:
    It also reveals that this episode is a prequel to "Hostage Crisis," the first-season finale episode that introduced Cad Bane and featured the breakout of Ziro the Hutt. And yet it takes place after the second-season premiere "Holocron Heist," the second Bane episode! It's really bizarre what's going on with the episode order on this show. They're just sticking in stories at random between other stories.
     
  17. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    Right. I get all that. But the key here is "good writing" as you put it. The scene did not work in terms of establishing any sort of emotional connection, for me, in this case. Did it want us to sympathize with Threepio's plight? In what way? The intolerable delay? Or the physical torture? It tried to do both and failed at both -- for me, at least.

    Sure he wanted something ... but he wanted to get fruit back to a party. Not the kind of motivation you build around a scene that involves torture, either physical or emotional. Either it should have been played purely for humor (in which case it's all part of a joke), or it needed something else to generate emotional involvement in what Threepio was going through.

    I understand perfectly what the scene was trying to do -- create an emotional investment through Threepio's torture and then balance the torture with humor -- I just don't think it worked particularly well.
     
  18. lennier1

    lennier1 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    It certainly got a reaction out of me, but probably not the intended one. They finally found a way to have Threepio shut up for a moment! :bolian:
     
  19. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    That depends on what it means to the character. All Charles Foster Kane wanted was a sled, but that was still the basis for a great movie. It wasn't about the fruit, it was about making sure that a sensitive diplomatic affair went off without a hitch. The senator Padme was trying to impress was very prickly about everything being perfect, and if something went wrong, he'd be offended and Padme's efforts to win him over to her cause would fail. This was important to Padme, and she was counting on Threepio to make it happen.

    So it wasn't about fruit. It was about trust. It was about being entrusted with a responsibility by his mistress and not wanting to let her down, not wanting her to be disappointed in him. That's a motivation I can relate to very strongly.
     
  20. Greylock Crescent

    Greylock Crescent Adventurer Admiral

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    Eh. We're back to where we started. :lol:

    Yes, I can relate to what Threepio's difficulties are. But that doesn't necessarily equate to an emotional connection, at least as far as this scene is concerned. For me, better writing and execution in the episode might have found a way to make that connection either through generating more sympathy for Threepio's plight or through generating more humor as a result of Threepio's plight.